Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.

The story is going to be a bit longer than I had planned.

This one was split into two because it was too long.

The second part will be uploaded next week.

"Zoro!" Sanji threw the double doors open as he ran into the room. Upon the loud sound, Zoro almost leaped out of his seat, but he did drop the large book onto the floor. The patient was about to bend over to pick it up, but the cook rushed into Zoro's lap and exploded into tears. The book slid off somewhere to the side.

Zoro had his hands suspended, hovering over the cook's head, "S-Sanji-san...? W-what happened?"

"Zoro! I-I'm sorry for what I had said!" Sanji screamed through the patient's clothing so his apology was half muffled by cloth.

Finally Zoro's hand mustered courage to grab the cook's shoulders and pull him off. He tried to look toward Sanji's direction but he was off a few centimeters again, "I-It's okay Sanji-san, I probably deserve it-"

"No, Zoro! I-" Sanji wiped off the snot and tears off his face, "I heard everything from Law! You're doing this for me right?"

Zoro chuckled and patted the cook's hair, "You're mistaken Sanji-san. I'm healing my eyes so I could meet and apologize to Sanji."

Sanji blinked a few times because he didn't get the message. His brain was whirling with emotion, "Oh, oh yeah, that's what I meant. A-Are you really going to apologize to him?"

"I want to." Zoro smiled a small smile.

Elation erupted in Sanji's heart. The hatred feelings he had for Zoro vanished like smoke. It sounded so simple and stupid, but that word, Sanji wanted to hear those words from him for the longest time. He thought of Zoro as a man who was stuck-up and would never apologize for the things he had done wrong. Tears were rolling down his face again and Sanji wiped them with his suit.

Sanji could hear glee in his voice, "So, um...what are you going to do when I, no uh, he forgives you?"

"Forgive?" Zoro widened his eyes in surprise, and then he titled his head to the side, "I never thought of that before. I don't know...um, maybe...ask him how he is doing?"

"What else?"

The patient's eyes were wide as coins before he collapsed into chuckles, "What else? Sanji-san, are you trying to raise my hopes up? I highly doubt he's going to forgive me."

"B-But what if he did?" Sanji urged, because he knew that Sanji was going to forgive him. Right now, he had no grudge over the man before him. Even so, there was a strong feeling burning inside Sanji's heart. It was a feeling he had experienced a long time ago.

"No no no, I won't think too much of it. Sanji probably has a busy life and he won't have time to meet me. Now, where did that book go?"

"I'll get it." Sanji put out a hand to stop Zoro. He knelt down and placed the book back onto Zoro's lap. As he stood up and watched Zoro skim through the page with his hands, he felt a little despondent. The patient was like a baby kitten; taking small steps to approach a cricket but then pounce back because it was afraid the cricket would kick him in the face. Zoro looked so happy whenever he mentioned Sanji Black, so much that his dead eyes reflected longing. When Sanji tried to persuade Zoro that Sanji Black might meet him again, however, Zoro would retreat.

"Hey Zoro."

"Hm?"

"You want to meet with Sanji right?"

"I do."

"B-but is that all? Don't you want to be friends with him again?"

The glitter in the patient's eyes was veiled by sadness. Zoro's eyes fell to the open book, "I want to, but I don't think Sanji will like it."

"Why...do you think that Zoro?"

"Because...Sanji-san, would you be comfortable with someone who has a history of hurting people?"

Sanji involuntarily stepped back a few steps, "I-I..."

Zoro smiled, but it was dismally gloomy, "See, you wouldn't like it either. I just want to apologize to Sanji and regardless if he forgives me or not, I will go away from him and...maybe return here and build my own home. I really like it here."

"But will you be happy?" His voice was shaking and Sanji felt something warm trailing down his cheeks. This time, the tears were not happy tears.

Zoro nodded, "I think Sanji will be stressed if I was near. If he's happy that I'm not around, then that's my happiness."

Sanji swallowed back his tears, "B-but what if Sanji was unhappy? What if he-he lost somebody special and wants somebody to comfort him? What if he failed creating his dream restaurant and was working somewhere else?"

"Sanji-san," Zoro interrupted, his voice was stern, "Don't make those assumptions."

"I-I," the cook choked, his voice failing him, "I'm sorry..."

"It's alright." Zoro suddenly reached over to touch the window glass to feel how it was, "It's night already? Time flies so fast these days...um, Sanji-san, I would like to sleep now, so will you excuse the room?"

"Y-Yes..." Sanji muttered, slowly moving toward the door.

"Oh, did Law give you a room to sleep tonight?"

"Er, no..."

"Law!" Zoro called out, "Can you give Sanji-san a room to sleep?"

It took a second for an answer to come back, "Got it!" The sound of footsteps ascending the stairs came much later.

Zoro smiled and Sanji's heart fluttered at the sight. "Good night Sanji-san."

"Good night..."

-.-.-

Sanji retired to bed early since, poor man, he had such a rough day. Law escorted the cook to one of the vacant rooms. It was as grand and spacious as the one Zoro had except for the lack of books. Before Sanji stripped off his coat, he fell dead on the bed and snored away. Law, grumbling during this whole time, peeled off Sanji's coat and socks, and tucked him into bed.

When he closed the door behind him, quickly with fast strides, he walked to Zoro's room. He tapped on the twice.

"Zoro, are you awake?"

"Law...? Yeah, I'm still awake."

"May I come in?"

"Sure."

Law expected to see Zoro lying on his bed, but the man was still sitting on the armchair.

"You should be in bed Zoro."

Zoro shifted his body, but his eyes stared far off into the sky, "I wanted to feel the wind a bit longer."

Law folded his arms across his chest and replied softly, "Liar. You were thinking of Sanji."

Zoro took his eyes away from the window and to Law. He laughed dryly, "You know me too well."

"I do unfortunately." Law pulled up the empty armchair and sat across from Zoro. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling good."

"Liar."

Zoro frowned, "I'm not lying."

"Yes you are. I've known you for two years Zoro. I know your personality."

The patient leaned over to hide his chuckles, "You're right...There is something that's bothering me."

Law glared at the room where Sanji slept, "Is it about the new nurse?"

"...yes...and no." Zoro leaned against the armchair again. There was a sudden pained look on his face. He shielded it with his hand, but Law saw it, "Sanji-san's a weird guy. One moment, he was yelling at me and the next minute he was crying his heart out. But, oh god Law, Sanji-san's just like him."

That's because he is Sanji... "Ah...I-I see...Well, I never...met the guy, so I don't know." Law threaded his fingers together, "So does this mean you'll forgive him for what he said and continue therapy?"

Zoro sighed, "I don't think I want to anymore."

Law lunged out of his seat and slammed his hands on the small round table, "What?" He didn't bother to see the books toppling off the table, "Are you still bothered-"

"No, it's not that..." Zoro pressed a hand over his mouth. He always did this when he was thinking, "...but doesn't this mean..."

Law waited but the patient just stopped talking. "What?"

"...does this mean Sanji's dead?"

"Whoa! Now you're jumping to conclusions Zoro!"

"But you know! There's a lot of tragic stories about a person losing their loved ones from a tragic event, and a few years later they meet someone who looks exactly like their deceased lover. It must come from somewhere."

Law's voice was rushed, "But that doesn't mean that it happens all of the time! Look!" He grabbed a couple of books from the bookshelves and dropped them onto Zoro's lap. One was about an eccentric family and the other one was about a swing covered in pretty flowers. He tapped his finger on the covers, "These have people who look like somebody else but they're not dead!"

Zoro ran his hands over the cover, "Oh yeah...there are some stories like that huh?"

"...and..."Law added, not really liking what he was going to say next, "A-and you know...Sanji doesn't like you, so he's not technically your 'lover'."

"...That's true. I completely forgot the key point." Zoro snickered but there was not a drop of humor.

Law kneeled down to collect the books off the floor. He also picked up the books on Zoro's lap before he sat down, "Are you really going to quit therapy because of that?"

"I'll continue if Sanji's alive-"

"He's alive."

"...well that was quick."

"Heh, I am certain of it." Law rubbed the edge of his nose in a pompous manner. It really didn't need many geniuses to figure that out. Sanji's sleeping right next door. "So don't give up Zoro. He's...out there somewhere."

Zoro leaned back against the seat. Those eyes were clear of all clouds. The man looked satisfied with Law's statement, "Alright. I'll continue it."

"Good." Law felt relieved. Now that problem was concluded, now it was the other step. The step that shouldn't have been a hassle. He suddenly pulled out a crumpled piece of paper which he scribbled up a list of obvious hints about Sanji, "Hey Zoro, are you tired?"

"No. Not yet. Why?"

"Well, I want to ask you some stuff about...you know, Sanji Rob..."

-.-.-

Sanji shuffled around in the most heavenly bed he had ever slept in. He cracked open his eyes and stared up at the creamy white ceiling with fancy embroidery imbedded along the edges. It had been years he slept like that alone. He was perfectly fine when he was sleeping with Lucci, but when his husband was gone, he tossed and turned and took nearly an hour before falling to sleep and wake up semi-satisfied. It was because of that heavy piece of lead in his heart was gone. Zoro wasn't a pride built man. He was going to apologize to him.

The tears welled up in his eye again, so Sanji dabbed it off with his sleeve, and there he saw that he slept in his best suit. Already there were faint wrinkles and creases.

"Damn."

There were two harsh knocks on the door. It were quick, rough knocks. The man on the other side was really cranky.

"Sanji? You awake?"

It was Law. "Yeah, I just woke up just now." The door swung open and Law came bursting into the room. When he reached the bed, he outstretched his arms and flopped. Then a weird, monotonic groaning noise emitted from the exhausted man.

"Law? What happened?"

Law let out another long groan, "I couldn't do it."

"C-Couldn't do what?"

Law raised his head and Sanji gasped at how dark the bags on Law's eyes were. "It's impossible. I stayed up the whole night yesterday to convince Zoro you were Sanji, but he-arg! He's totally blind!"

"Well, of course he's blind, he can't see."

"Not that blind, you fool!" Law snarled but suddenly lowered his voice, "Sorry, I'm just really tired."

Sanji patted Law on the head. He was surprised that his hair was soft. "It's okay."

The doctor rolled so he was on his back, "Have you heard of a phrase 'love is blind'?"

"Yeah."

"Well, apparently Zoro is both physically blind and love blind because," Law stressed the last word, "-because he sees you as a different person. He believes that because he knows you hate him so you will never come here. He's guessing that you are probably married with someone wonderful, living somewhere that's far from Rogue, and working at the restaurant in All Blue." Law clenched a handful of the satin sheets, "But he keeps saying that you're like Sanji! He is so oblivious!

"But, he's going to continue therapy so I'm perfectly fine with that. It's just your problem." Law jabbed a finger at Sanji's chest, "Are you going to continue this volunteer work as Sanji-san or Sanji?"

"Wait, I'm officially the nurse?"

"Yes."

"W-what happened to the nurse who was supposed to come at eight?" Sanji blabbered, wondering how the hell he remembered the last bit of information.

"I fired him."

"What? That was quick!"

"Yeah, so you're the new nurse now. Welcome to Law's Clinic." They gave each other a swift handshake, "Your job is to mainly babysit Zoro while I go around and check on other people. I can't watch him all the time you know. If he wants food, you cook. If you are running out of ingredients, just tell me and I'll go and buy it. Oh, and since you said you are going to volunteer I am not going to pay you.

"Anyways, where were we? Oh yeah, you. Sanji-san or Sanji? Whichever one you pick you're going to have a tough time."

Sanji racked his brain. Sanji-san or Sanji? The choices sounded so innocuous, both should be the relatively the same-since Sanji-san and Sanji were the same person.

If he chose Sanji (or just be himself) he might have to start the same procedure Law attempted to convince Zoro he was-him. That idea leavened him; even though he only knew Zoro during his first year at the university, he knew how hard the man's head was. It would need a tremendous amount of persuading to get Zoro to understand. But the man was blinded by love, as Law referred earlier so that was even more difficult. He didn't want to end up as Law who was half-awake and half of his face buried in the sheets.

If he chose Sanji-san, he would be a different person in Zoro's view. He was just a young cook who just started stepping into the new world by entering the Baratie. He was also Zoro's nurse.

Sanji stopped pressing his temples and compared the two choices. One was obviously simpler than the other.

"What the hell are you talking about 'having a tough time?' Being Sanji-san is the easiest."

Law raised his upper body by his elbows and stared at him incredulously, "You're serious?"

"Yeah."

"You're really going to be Sanji-san?"

Sanji crossed his arms, "Why not? I don't see anything bad about it. All it is that I pretend I'm him, even though he's me right?"

"You are really dumb. Really really dumb." Law's frown sagged, "You need to look at yourself more often." After he said this, he slid off the bed like a caterpillar and sauntered back to the doorway, "I'm going to take a nap. Only wake me up when there's an emergency. Oh yeah, make some kind of breakfast for Zoro. And, don't you have to leave by tomorrow?"

Sanji gasped and leaped out of bed, "Shit, you're right!"

"You can leave at the fourteen o'clock train. It'll take you home before the next day."

"Thanks." Sanji hoped he sounded cheerful but it ended up sounding like he had something lodged in his throat.

"You're welcome dummy." The doctor tapped his mouth to make weird rhythms with his yawns and finally left the cook some privacy. Sanji glared down at the sheets. He needed to look at himself? What the heck did that mean? Sanji felt very displeased.

To Be Continued